Update: Two days after this story was published, on Tuesday, June 30, Gov. Jay Inslee signed Washington’s state budget. The new budget includes $20 million over the next two years for drug prevention and education.

The campaign to legalize marijuana promised that almost a quarter of the taxes from those sales would fund education and prevention efforts.

Ross Reynolds interviews University of Washington emeritus professor Roger Roffman about moves in the state legislature to redirect marijuana tax revenue away from education to balance the budget. Roffman explains what he thinks the impact will be on public health.

The marijuana industry has a pesticide problem. Many commercial cannabis growers use chemicals to control bugs and mold. But the plant's legal status is unresolved.

The grow room at Medical MJ Supply in Fort Collins, Colo., has all the trappings of a modern marijuana cultivation facility: glowing yellow lights, plastic irrigation tubes, and rows of knee-high cannabis plants.

"We're seeing a crop that's probably in it third or fourth week," says Nick Dice, the owner.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray says all medical marijuana dispensaries in Seattle are illegal. So he wants to shut half of them down, starting with those that opened recently and haven’t been paying taxes. Those left standing, he plans to offer legitimacy through a city license.

KUOW’s Joshua McNichols was at the announcement and filed this report.

Ross Reynolds speaks with Bruce Barcott, author of "Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America."

Barcott began working on the book as a self-described pot agnostic. He said his 16-year-old daughter found it hilarious that her square dad was writing a book about pot.

Barcott was concerned about how legal marijuana would affect his children. But after looking into it he said he's proud of Washington for taking the step to legalize it. He thinks the legalization effort will only grow in coming years.

California is four years into a historic drought, and water for human use is vying with the water needs of wildlife, such as threatened salmon.

In parts of northern California, an explosive and unregulated increase in marijuana cultivation is contributing to the problem. Now, a study says the impact of pot grows on fish-bearing streams is threatening their survival.

Researchers monitoring water levels in streams in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties last summer say the water impacts of cannabis grow operations are dramatic.